Chicago schools spend 16 percent more than Jersey's Dow Elementary

Operational spending at Dow Elementary School in Jersey is 16 percent less than the average Chicago public school.

Dow Elementary School is in the Jersey CUSD 100 school district, where operational spending is $12,704 per year, per student.

In the Chicago Public School District (CPS), the average school spends $15,120 per year, per student.

The number of students per classroom at Dow Elementary School is actually fewer than at CPS. At Dow Elementary School, there are 22 students per classroom, while at CPS there are 24.

However, at CPS, while schools are staffed for full enrollment, 27 percent of students are "chronically truant." That means adjusted for actual student attendance, CPS has 17.5 students per classroom.

At Dow Elementary School, the truancy rate is 8.7.

The Chicago Teachers Union has called upon state taxpayers to increase state funding to CPS by 25 percent, or to $20,000 per student. City officials are considering filing a federal lawsuit to require the rest of Illinois to provide this funding.

Of students at Dow Elementary School,
40.9 percent earned a passing score on the 2015 Illinois standardized K-12 test, or "PARCC" exam. On the same exam, 25 percent of CPS students earned a passing score.